Keeping it real in Rhyl.

This week has been pretty crazy. Met lots of crazy people to go along with my crazy week. (: Tuesday we had a zone meeting here in Rhyl which was really good. We then tracted most of the day but stopped by some investigators Jamie and Karen. We haven't had an official sit down lesson with them but we are going to on Friday. Should be good, Jamie is Karen's son and has been reading the Book of Mormon and seems really interested. We had dinner at Graham and Chez's that night and they wanted me to do a flip because Elder Korth brought it up. So I kinda failed a sideflip in my slacks on the concrete but there was no scratches or tears on my trousers so we were all good. (:

We went to the temple this morning for bank holiday which was great. (:

Wednesday was great we met with Paul and hes been reading the Book of Mormon and is interested and had lots of great questions. I'm excited about it. But he works like crazy so were not sure when we'll be able to meet with him next. Hopefully soon though. We mostly tracted the rest of the day but did have dinner with a recent convert David and his mom Debbie. It was great, David is super funny. But yeah a lot of tracting. (:

Thursday was weekly planning so we were in the flat till 1. Then did lots more tracting which was an absolute blast. (: We had dinner with some members, the Wades. They were great. We had a meeting that night with an investigator Hillary. She is pretty old. She asked us to pray that she can look young again and gave us some poems she wrote about how God is awesome, cool and a dj. Later she texted we will never make her be a Mormon. So we probably won't meet with her again. (:

Trying to eat a massive spider.

Friday there's not really anything to report we did a lot of tracting and travelling by bus took ages because Rhyl was crazy busy. We had dinner with the Jones's which was great they were super nice. (:

Saturday was my month mark! Crazy. It feels like so much longer yet not. Its pretty weird. We had a street display. It was really good but I got stuck talking to this man for literally an hour. I told him so many times I had to go but he just kept talking and talking telling me about all his life of casting out demons and praying in king Arthur's chair and vice grips and everything in between. His third time coming back he told me God had told him to take a Book of Mormon which he previously rejected in an exchange for a book he brought me that God instructed him to give me. Its enquire within upon everything. He said it will make me a chief elder within 4 years and contains a cure. So that was really something. 

But we found 6 new investigators who we will be meeting with soon so we will see how that will go. We also went to an investigators wedding that night which apparently missionaries have been waiting for for 10 years because he's been with his girlfriend for that long. So hopefully he'll become serious about baptism now. (:

Sunday was good but I'm running out of email time and there's not much to report. Have a great week all!

Elder Edwards

Rhyl!

This week has been crazy! And its been great! I was going to bring my journal so i could remember everything we did but I completely forgot it. Dang sorry. I'll try my best to remember. 

A great view.

Last Wednesday was like high 70's temperature wise so it wasn't terrible, but it was crazy humid. Super humid. And the houses don't have AC because they don't need it often so the houses are almost more humid than outside. But it was sunny all day and we enjoyed the sun. We did a lot of tracting with no luck, and had an appointment to teach an investigator, Maggie, at the chapel but she didn't show and she hasn't been answering her phone so that's kind of lame. But all good. (: We went to KFC that night with a recent convert David and his mom Debbie. It was really good.

Thursday was great. We hung wallpaper at Graham and Chez's house, less active members, for 5 hours I think it was. And Thursday was super humid again. So the house was so humid. But we were in service clothes so it wasn't as bad as the usual clothes. (: It was good though, I'm a wallpaper hanging professional now so I think that's what I'm going to do for a living after the mission. They fed us KFC haha. It was really good. In the time we had while not doing service we tracted without really any luck. I fell right asleep both nights. Every night actually haha, missionary work is tiring. 

For blankets they just use duvets here, which is like a cross between
a pillow and blanket. I bought a great dinosaur duvet cover. (:

Friday poured and poured all morning. Just dumping. Or chucking it down as they say here. (: We traveled to Abergale to do a blitz, which is the 4 elders splitting up and tracting a bigger area, with the Elders from Colwyn Bay. So I went with Elder Kaonohi from Hawaii who is Elder Chilpagiri's trainer and he's from India. And Elder Korth, my trainer, went with Elder Chilpagiri. That was a lot of fun. We had some good conversations but not really any new investigators. And it was still pouring. We ate lunch with them then Elder Korth and I snagged a bus back to Rhyl. We tracted more in the pouring rain with some crazy people answering the doors, then finally a man named Paul answered. He seemed really interested, and asked all the perfect questions like worried about not being with his kids forever, and babies dying before being baptised. He even talked about how hes been waiting for a sign, and said the book of mormon we gave him might be it. Haha so that was great. We're going by this Wednesday. I'm excited hopefully hes been reading. And when we were done talking to him the skies had cleared and it had stopped raining. And i thought the weather was crazy in Utah. (: We mostly just had more tracting that day with on and off rain.

Elders Edwards, Chilpagiri, Korth, Kaonohi.

Saturday we tracted a lot. I'm having a hard time remembering but there wasn't really anything to report. It rained and was super windy for much of the day.

Sunday was great, we went to church and it was really good. Funny how Sunday's don't feel any different. Haha every day just feels like a missionary day. We had tea (which is what they call dinner here) at Graham and Chez's that less active family I talked about. The plates were massive and just piled high with potatoes, meat, stuffing thingies, veggies, and buckets and buckets of gravy. It was so good. Then we taught their kids the plan of salvation, and some of their kids want to be baptized so Graham is going to find a date for them to be baptized soon. Not much else to report, just tracted and was excited to sleep when that time came. (: It was sunny then rainy then sunny then rainy all day. (:

Some door.

This morning was the first time we got out of the flat for exercise, we jogged to a field and did some exercises there. That was great. I did a lot of flips too which was great fun. Right now we are just hanging out at the church with the Colwyn bay elders. Love you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Edwards

Dinosaur duvet cover selfie. (:

England Manchester Mission

Dear Parents,

Your son has arrived in the England Manchester Mission (EMM) safely and is ready to go to work as a missionary...

President & Sister Mark D. Ulrich with
Elder Edwards

Week 2!

Elders Zeck, Holyoak, Edwards, Kim

I'm so proud of my district. We were chillin and out of the blue I sang "where are you". Elder Zeck and Elder Holyoak jumped in no hesitation and we sang with some conviction. Lehi district is number one! We're all great friends already and I love these elders. They are all super funny and awesome. 

P-day last week was amazing. SO good to get a break from the all day classroom routine. We walked to a store and got some snacks and stamps then played football all afternoon. We had a super great devotional that night too. 

Thursday was also great. We traveled around to various church history sites which was awesome. There was a super awesome/pretty Japanese garden thing we went to. Walking in the streets and forest paths of England in the pouring rain got me really excited to get out of the MTC and start preaching the good word. England is the prettiest place. Green fields with trees acting as fences everywhere. Im so excited to get out in the field. We also went to this really small old church. Inside as missionaries we sang called to serve. That was ultimately cool.

In the MTC we teach fake investigators. Me and Elder Stutz have been teaching a crazy Russian orthodox guy Dima, played by our teacher Brother Roggow. On monday he comitted to baptism. It might sound silly but we actually get into the teaching as if it is real. I was truly happy for "Dima". It was such a good feeling, the spirit was definitely there. I cant imagine how amazing it will feel when a real investigator says yes to baptism. I am so very excited to start teaching this gospel. 

Sunday was also a great day, it was fast Sunday and was a killer day. Our fast and testimony meeting was great the spirit was so strong. Tomorrow we go out into Manchester and do real street contacting. That should be awesome. (:

The other days were spent in the classroom learning how to teach this gospel. Which I'm so excited to do. I leave next Tuesday so i might be emailing that day. I'm so excited to really get started! Proud to be wearing the name tag. Love you all! (:

Love, Elder Edwards

With Elder Zeck

Still got it.

Niall's (from one direction) favorite place to eat
according to district leader Elder Zeck. (:

MTC!

(written August 3, 2016)

This week has been absolutely crazy! SO much going on. I love and miss you all! I can't believe its only been a week it feels like its been a month. But it's been great. We are so busy here. The Wednesday we got here was soooo long. I was so tired. Like I said I only got like a half hour asleep then was basically up all Tuesday and Wednesday or something like that. Time was weird when transitioning.

Left to right: Elder Ramirez, Elder Zeck, Me, Elder Meyer, Elder McTavish,
Elder Stutz (my companion), Elder Holyoak, Elder Kim.

My companion is Elder Stutz from Idaho. We are two very different people but we get along and he's got a great desire to do good. He is a great guy. In our district is Elder Mctavish from Canada, Elder Zeck our district leader also from Canada, Elder Ramirez also from Canada, Elder Kim from New Zealand, Elder Meyer from Germany (and the only one not going to England he's actually going to Brisbane), and Elder Holyoak from good old Utah. They are all awesome and we are becoming good friends. Elder Meyer is super quiet and has super thick accent but is super funny, and quickly becoming more comfortable, he's one of my favorite guys here he's awesome. On the plane ride i sat with Elder Ludlow from Provo. He has red hair and looks a lot like Mike Ludlow haha. We became good friends he's a great guy. 

This pond is right behind the MTC. It's a beaut.

The first couple days were all the same just crazy, so much classroom time and studying and such. So many meetings. England may be cool temperature but the MTC is so stinking hot. All the elders here are dying like all the time. We open the windows a lot. 

Our district teachers actually pretend to be investigators and we get to teach them the missionary lessons like we would actual investigators. Its very cool and actually helps a ton. Its awesome. (: 

Its a proven fact investigators only look at your top half.

Sunday was a great break because we actually got some free time. Sacrament meeting was great, everyone at the MTC prepares a talk and then at the beginning of the meeting they announce who will be speaking. But I didn't get assigned. (: After church a lot of elders and sisters walked up to the temple. It is beautiful! We don't get to go in until the last week because its being cleaned but it was still great. 

The days here are long, studying in the morning, football (which is super fun--the field is usually packed, there's another Elder Edwards here and we were killin the goal game), investigator meetings, lunch, class, dinner, more class, more investigator meetings and a bunch more stuff. Its all kind of a blur. Today was our first p-day and its amazing to get a break. We got ready this morning, ate breakfast, then took an hour and a half nap. We might take another one later. (: Sorry I hope this email is good I really ran out of time quick. Love you all!

Love, Elder Edwards